The present invention relates to an adjustable helmet, and more particularly, to a helmet having an exterior shell that is adjustable laterally and longitudinally.
A variety of helmets are commercially available. Most helmets that are adapted to be worn in sporting, recreational and occupational activities include a hard outer shell that forms a portion of the helmet designed to be impacted, padding adapted to fit between the hard outer shell and the head of a wearer, and in some cases, a band that fits around the head of a wearer to hold the hard shell in place relative to the wearer's head.
Many helmets are designed to be adjustable to accommodate a variety of head sizes and shapes. This adjustability is usually provided in the form of an mechanism that adjusts some component of the helmet, internal to the hard outer shell. For example, many hard hats include a one piece, hard outer shell and a head band that is designed to circumferentiate the head of a wearer. The head band is outfitted with a rotatable dial that shortens or lengthens the band via a rack and pinion mechanism to approximate the circumference of the wearer's head. This type of internal adjustability is helpful, but does nothing to adjust the dimensions of the hard outer shell of the hard hat, which is also referred to as a “helmet” herein. Accordingly, the profile of the hard outer shell remains unchanged, which can present comfort and fit issues for the wearer, and can leave the wearer with a helmet that appears too large for their head—despite “fitting” their head on the inside of the helmet.
Other helmets have alternative designs that enable the hard outer shell to be adjusted from front to back, or longitudinally. An example of these helmets are found in the sport of hockey. Most hockey helmets include a front shell covering the crown and temples of a wearer's head, and a rear shell that covers the sides and the rear of the head. The front shell and rear shell are joined with screws that enable a wearer to adjust the longitudinal (front-to-back) dimension of the helmet. After the adjustment, the user can tighten the screws so that the front and rear shells remain joined in a fixed configuration. While this construction is helpful, it requires the use of tools to make the lengthwise adjustment.
Some more recent helmets, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,108,824 to Fournier, include manually operable features (that is, no tools are required) to adjust the lengthwise dimensions of the helmet. Even helmets like that in Fournier, however have downsides. For example, while the longitudinal dimensions are adjustable, the helmet is not laterally adjustable. For those with large, wide heads, the typical longitudinally adjustable helmet does not address all fitment issues.
In the bicycle helmet industry, there are helmets that provide longitudinal and lateral dimension adjustment. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,647,556 to Grepper illustrates a bicycle helmet including an internal screw mechanism that is joined with guides embedded in different parts of the helmet. When the screws are turned, the guides cause separation of the helmet parts, changing the longitudinal and lateral dimensions of the helmet. While this is useful, the screws require tools for adjustment, the actuating mechanism is relatively complex and appears hard to assemble, and the helmet, when expanded, includes wide-open gaps. These gaps can be easily penetrated by objects that impact the head of a wearer. Thus, such adjustable bicycle helmets are not of much use in sporting, recreational or occupational activities where objects such as sticks are used.
While there are a variety of adjustable helmets currently available, there remains much room to provide improved fully and easily adjustable helmets.